Aol's Adtech Eyes Viewability; Adobe-Josh James Suit Settles Quietly

Just as comScore is engaging in a patent suit against ad effectiveness companies, AOL’s ad serving subsidiary Adtech is stepping into the fray with its own product designed to measure consumer “visibility” for marketers and agencies. “We are making the length of time a user is in potential visual contact with an ad measurable, according to standardized criteria,” claims Adtech CEO Erhard Neumann. “With this feature, we are helping our customers better understand their placements - whether they need it for optimizing ongoing campaigns or for website layouts and placements.” Read the release. No lawsuits from comScore reported thus far.

Dentsu’s DNA

Dentsu may be adding to its momentum in the Western hemisphere. One month after moving to buy Aegis,the Japan-based agency holding co. has set up a North American agency network. Called (what else?) DNA, the unit will be chaired by 360i CEO Bryan Wiener and house a digital-heavy family of agencies, including 360i, Attik, Dentsu America, Firstborn, Steak and Canadian agency DentsuBos. (Press release) Among the advantages are more clout in media negotiations and coordination on existing clients and new biz pitches. AdAge says it’s unlikely Aegis, in part or whole, will be spliced with DNA after that deal closes later this year. Read it.

Holster Your Weapons

Omniture co-founder/former CEO and Domo chief Josh James and Adobe Systems have settled their lawsuits against one another over confidentiality. The Salt Lake Tribune reports, “The terms are confidential, and will result in continuing obligations between the parties.” James left Adobe after Omniture nine months it was acquired in 2009. Read it. Domo (site) has been relatively quiet to-date. It will be interesting to see if James take the wraps off of his new company with litigation presumably in the rear view mirror.

Carriers And Mobile Ads

On ExchangeWire, VivaKi’s Danny Hopwood reviews today’s mobile ad possibilities. He’s a bit frustrated about today, but sees much more down the road. Hopwood writes, “Mobile advertising was supposed to provide a connection to that constant consumer companion. Many will say it does and that their technology can pin-point users to five metres away. I believe the only ones that can do this are the carriers within their respective countries. I’m not aware of carriers that have been doing this, but I hope they do.” Read it.

Tortoise Vs Tortoise

Writing on his personal blog, Darren Herman sees an ad tech industry “stuck in a rut of incremental innovation.” He suggests product refinement by small degrees threatens to turn today’s market makers into tomorrow’s Ginsu Knives barkers. “It’s a no-win game and becomes all about marketing and salesmanship where it should be about the product and performance.” Take heart! Herman sees a way out through the social marketing scrum. Read it.

Getting A Good Deal

In a video recorded at a recent SF Ad Pub Meetup, Google/Admeld’s Casey Saran and Social Gaming Network’s Tyler Fitch discuss the finer points of “Getting Started With Ad Networks and Negotiating A Good Deal.” Get the straight deal.

Ad Network Funds

Visible Measure says it has corralled an additional $21.5 million as the funding cavalcade in ad tech continues. CEO Brian Shin tells Ad Age's Jason Del Rey that his video ad network/analytics company "still has money in the bank from a $13 million round it closed in September, but added that the new funding gives the company the chance to accelerate hiring, more aggressively launch new products and manage the huge data costs associated with the business." Read more. And, read Peter Kafka's take on AllThingsD. And, here’s the release.

Hiring The Client

Jack Marshall examines the agency model and the “power of no” on Digiday. He quotes the ubiquitous Ian Schafer of Deep Focus who encapsulates the challenge for the agencies: "An agency is essentially two things; the people that work there and the clients you have. Agencies are always extremely careful with the people they hire, and the same should go for the clients they work with. A toxic employee is bad for an agency, but a toxic client is worse because it effects everyone." Read it.

Video RTB

YuMe’s Jayant Kadambi, writing in Mediapost’s Video Insider, feels that video deserves something better than what the RTB’d exchanges can currently deliver. “What RTBs really do is repurpose well-worn and very often flawed third-party direct response cookie tracking. At best, these cookie pools tell you age, gender, geo and some clickstream data --and they don’t even do this very well. If the data is correct -- and it’s increasingly ambiguous -- you learn nothing about brand receptivity or performance, ad exposure or ad load. Nothing about what matters most: Are people really paying attention?" Read more.

Get The Basics

On the Havas Digital slideshare account, a nice, basic overview from 2011 for the unitiated from trading desk Adnetik on the programmatic buying world in a 26-slide presentation - also includes how Adnetik says it differentiates itself. See it now.

New Website

Ad tech company ZEDO has blog-ified its website and added new branding. View now!